44. Quoted in Moore, Thatcher, p. 289.
45. AN diary, 27 January 1975.
46. Ibid., 26 January 1975.
47. Ibid., 27 January 1975.
48. Ibid., 28 January 1975.
49. Interview with Richard Ryder.
50. Interview with Norman Tebbit.
51. Interview with Billy Stirling James, 14 November 2018.
52. Campbell, Thatcher, p. 298.
53. Interview with Jonathan Aitken.
54. Moore, Thatcher, p. 291.
12: WARRIOR IN A DARK BLUE SUIT
1. Moore, Thatcher, p. 297.
2. Interview with Marigold Webb.
3. Moore, Thatcher, p. 587.
4. Interview with William Neave.
5. Interview with Caroline Ryder, 19 July 2016.
6. Interview with Grey Gowrie, 28 June 2018.
7. Interview with Lord Lexden, 25 January 2016.
8. Interview with Richard Ryder.
9. AN diary, 12 August 1973.
10. Ibid., 26 November 1974.
11. Ibid., 6 March 1974.
12. Ibid., 23 May 1974.
13. Interview with Peter Lilley, 15 March 2018.
14. Peter Lilley, Geoffrey Warhurst, John Wilkinson MP and Rochfort Young, Do You Sincerely Want to Win?, Bow Publications, 1972.
15. Figures taken from Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, Penguin, 2007, pp. 671–72.
16. Ibid., p. 672.
17. Hansard, HC Deb, 14 July 1975.
18. Hansard, HC Deb, 27 June 1975.
19. Merlyn Rees, Northern Ireland: A Personal Perspective, Methuen, 1985, p. 324.
20. Neave, ‘New confidence in Ulster’, p. 16.
21. Hansard, HC Deb, 24 November 1975.
22. Interview with Lord Lexden.
23. Neave, ‘New confidence in Ulster’, p. 16.
24. For a comprehensive and insightful analysis, see Stephen Kelly, ‘“No textbook solutions to the problems in Northern Ireland”: Airey Neave and the Conservative Party’s Northern Ireland Policy, 1975–1979’, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 2018, 1–24.
25. Interview with Peter Lilley.
26. Kelly, ‘No textbook’, p. 2.
27. Hansard, HC Deb, 28 Oct 1976.
28. Airey Neave, ‘Bridging the Ulster gap’, Guardian, 3 May 1978.
29. TNA CJ 4/2642.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Neave to Mrs Winifred A. Walker, 3 April 1978, Parliamentary Archives AN/461, quoted in Kelly, ‘No textbook,’ p. 9.
33. Neave, ‘New confidence’.
34. Lord Lexden, Conservative Home website, 30 March 2014.
35. ‘Roy Mason’, Wikipedia.
36. Neave, ‘New confidence’.
37. Interview with Michael Rose, 26 March 2018.
38. Neave, ‘New confidence’.
39. Interview with Michael Rose.
40. Interview with Patrick Neave.
41. Diana Neave, statement to DI John Holmes, 31 March 1979
42. See Jack Holland and Henry McDonald, INLA: Deadly Divisions – The Story of One of Ireland’s Most Ruthless Terrorist Organisations, Torc, 1994, pp. 98–104 for full details.
43. TNA FCO 87/2566.
44. Walter Ellis, The Beginning of the End: The Crippling Disadvantage of an Irish Childhood, Mainstream, 2006, p. 157.
45. Ibid., p. 228.
46. Ibid., p. 223.
47. Private information.
48. Holland and McDonald, INLA, p. 105.
49. Ibid., p. 121.
50. Ibid., p. 106.
51. Ibid., p. 130.
52. TNA CJ 4/2642.
53. Ibid.
54. See Moore, Thatcher, p. 593.
55. Diana Neave, statement to DI John Holmes, 2 April 1979.
56. Interview with Matthew Parris, 27 June 2018.
57. Interview with Lord Lexden.
58. Interview with Michael Dobbs, 25 April 2018.
59. Interview with Richard Ryder.
13: ‘THE PERFECT TARGET’
1. Interview with Richard Ryder and statement of Joy Robilliard to Detective Sergeant Ian McGregor, 31 March 1979.
2. Report of M. Rufus Crompton to Westminster Coroner’s Court.
3. TNA HO 287/2627.
4. David McNee, McNee’s Law: The Memoirs of Sir David McNee, Collins, 1983, pp. 136–7.
5. TNA HO 287/2627.
7. Statement of Joy Robilliard to DS Ian McGregor, 31 March 1979.
8. Interview with William Neave.
9. Routledge, Public Servant, p. 314.
10. TNA CJ 4/3134.
11. Private information.
12. Daily Mail, 11 April 1979, p. 17.
13. Holland and McDonald, INLA, p. 140.
14. Statement of George Berryman to Westminster Coroner’s Court.
15. Interview with military bomb expert, 17 April 2018.
16. Routledge, Public Servant, p. 312.
17. Holland and McDonald, INLA, pp. 137–38.
18. Private information.
19. Email from Damion Baird to the author, 23 June 2018.
20. Holland and McDonald, INLA, pp. 250–53, and AP report for 25 July 1976.
21. TNA FCO 87/2566.
22. Ken Wharton, Torn Apart: Fifty Years of the Troubles 1969–2019.
23. Interview with Caroline Ryder.
24. YouTube, ‘The Death of Airey Neave’.
25. Interview with Marigold Webb.
26. Margaret Thatcher to Diana Neave, 4 April 1979. Neave family papers.
EPILOGUE: HINTON WALDRIST
1. Interview with Tom King.
2. Interview with Caroline Ryder.
3. Interview with Tom King.
4. Interview with Norman Tebbit.
Picture Section
Airey aged about seven months with his mother Dorothy. (Neave family)
As a smart little seven-year-old schoolboy. (Neave family)
Airey with his siblings, Averil, Rosamund, Digby and Viola (seated on floor). (Neave family)
The sound of broken glass: Merton College dining club the Myrmidons, 1937. Airey Neave is front row, second from right. (Fellows of Merton College)
The sacrifice: British troops march into captivity after their heroic stand, Calais. (Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)
AN shortly after arriving at Spangenberg. (History and Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photo)
Colditz Castle. (Wikipedia)
Resisters and escapers: left to right, Francis Blanchain, Mario Prassinos, Hugh Woollatt, AN and Louis Nouveau in the flat on the Quai Rive Neuve, Marseilles, in the spring of 1942.
Jimmy Langley in 1944.
AN with Albert-Marie Guérisse (‘Pat O’Leary’) after the war.
The happiest day of his life: AN and Diana marry after a whirlwind courtship, 29 December 1942. (Neave family)
‘Monday’ – Michael Creswell on a shooting holiday during his stint as a diplomat in pre-war Germany.
Traitor: Harold Cole in one of his many incarnations. (Cumbria Archive Service)
‘Dédée’ – Andrée de Jongh’s courage and dedication won the hearts of many.
Leading lights of ‘Comet’: Jean Greindl.
Jean-François Nothomb.
Peggy van Lier.
Florentino Goïcoechea.
Mary Lindell, aka La Comtesse de Milleville.
A good war: AN towards the end of the conflict. (Neave family)
Evaders await rescue in the Fôret de Fréteval.
British troops move through the burning streets of Arnhem. (Pen & Sword/SSPL/Getty Images)
Nuremberg: AN is just identifiable third from the right in the row behind the judges’ bench.
‘Really beautiful and brilliant.’ Margaret Thatcher applauded by her most devoted fan. (Roger Jackson/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
AN and Diana Neave at the Watchfield Free Festival, August 1975. The ideal political wife, Dian
a was Airey’s tireless supporter and loyal counsellor and his career was her life’s work. (Paul Fievez/Associated Newspapers/REX/Shutterstock)
Edward du Cann, chair of the 1922 committee and one of the ‘Milk Street Mafia’, 13 October 1974. (Ronald Spencer/Associated Newspapers/REX/Shutterstock)
INLA operative Patsy O’Hara who transported the bomb to Britain. He later died on hunger strike.
The wreckage of AN’s car on the exit ramp of the car park. (PA/Ian Showell/PA Archive/PA Images)
Mourning a dear friend. Margaret Thatcher at AN’s funeral in Oxfordshire. (Ball/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Index
The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.
Abingdon parliamentary constituency, 158, 159, 162, 167, 195, 222; AN enters parliament as MP for, 146–9, 151, 156; Thatcher visits, 186–8, 190, 210; Wallingford meeting (January 1975), 219
Abwehr (German military intelligence), 100, 117, 118, 122
Aga Khan, Prince Sadruddin, 173
Aitken, Jonathan, 5, 190, 224
Aldington, Toby, 203, 208
Alington, Dr Cyril, 11
American Air Force, 104, 114, 124, 125, 127
Amin, Idi, 172
Anderson, Betty Harvie, 217
Andrus, Burton C., 140, 141
Arab–Israel war (1973), 193
Ash, William, 59
Ashbury, Old Vicarage, 162, 166–7, 184–5, 186–8, 190, 210, 214, 236–7
Atkins, Humphrey, 190, 204, 205, 207, 209, 226, 264
Atomic Energy Authority, 158
Bachenheimer, Ted, 132–3
Baker, Kenneth, 199, 208
Baker, Peter, 131–3, 146
Baldwin, Stanley, 17
Barber, Anthony, 191, 210
Baron, Millicent, 107
Barr, R. J., 36–7
Barton, Teddy, 77
BBC, 178, 221–2, 243
Beach, Thomas Miller (Henri Le Caron), 13–14
Beaconsfield, 11, 13, 16, 109
Beckett, Veronica, 154, 182, 189, 219
Beerbohm, Max, 23
Belgium, 56, 110, 114, 126, 130; Nazi invasion of (May 1940), 30–1; escape networks in, 99, 111–12, 113, 114–15, 117, 118, 119–20, 140, 155–6; underground/resistance, 105, 111–12, 114–15, 117–18, 126; Security Service in London, 116, 118
Berryman, George, 252–3
Bevan, Aneurin, 147
Beveridge Report, 142, 150
Biddle, Francis, 139–40, 144
Biggs-Davison, John, 232, 233
Birkett, Norman, 153
Birmingham pub bombings (1974), 228
birth control, 174
Bishop’s House, Beaconsfield, 11, 13, 16
Blackshirts, 26
Blanchain, Francis, 101
Blommaert, Jean de, 126, 128, 129
Boulogne, 29–30, 33, 34, 36, 40
Boussa, Lucien, 126, 128
Bower, Claude, 51
Boyd-Carpenter, John, 159
Boyle, Andrew, 26
Braine, Bernard, 217
British Army: Territorials, 26–8, 104–5, 152, 157, 158, 179–80; defence of Channel ports (May 1940), 29, 31–49, 50–1; British Expeditionary Force (BEF), 29–30, 31–49, 50–1; falls back to Dunkirk, 46; and sacrifice of Calais garrison, 46–9, 50–1
British Army units: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 26–7; 22nd (Essex) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 27; Royal Engineers, 27, 29; Royal Artillery, 29, 30, 31–3, 152, 179; 2nd Searchlight Battery (2nd SL), 30, 31–3, 35, 36–9; 20th Guards Brigade, 33, 40; 30th Infantry Brigade, 33; Queen Victoria’s Rifles (QVR), 33, 40–1, 49, 51; 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (3RTR), 33–4, 36; 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Green Jackets), 34, 39–40, 41, 49; 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps (60th Rifles), 34, 41, 42–5, 51; Coldstream Guards, 54–5; 51st (Highland) Division, 58, 97; Special Air Service (SAS), 127–8, 135; 1st Airborne Division, 130–6
British Establishment, 10–11, 23–4
British Leyland, 214
British War Crimes Executive, 137, 139
Brown, Leslie, 149
Browning, William ‘Boot’, 256
Brussels, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 117, 118, 119–20, 130
Bunting, Ronnie, 239–41, 251–2, 253–4, 258–9
Bunting, Suzanne, 240, 258
Calais, 29, 30, 31–49, 50–1, 95, 154
Callaghan, James, 1, 244, 249
Campbell, John, 168
capital punishment, 161, 172, 228, 233
Carr, Robert, 200
Carrington, Peter, 154, 263–4
Cartwright, Henry Antrobus, 90, 91, 92–3, 104, 122; Within Four Walls (1930), 14, 90
Carvel, Bob, 224–5
Caskie, Reverend Donald, 97
Castle, Barbara, 147
Castle, Ted, 147
Castlereagh (Tory dining club), 27–8
Cavell, Edith, 110
Chartres Cathedral, 128–9
Cheshire, Leonard, 23, 24, 26
Chilcot, John, 246
Chillington Hall, Staffordshire, 6, 108, 129, 163, 165, 166
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 23
Churchill, Winston, 47, 50, 137, 147, 150, 156
Churchill, Winston (grandson of war leader), 200
Clarke Chapman (engineering firm), 173, 174, 196, 214, 248
Cold War, 128, 147, 152, 156–7, 175–6
Colditz, 1, 4, 52, 53, 55, 57; Pat Reid at, 57, 59, 74, 75, 77–8, 81, 89, 155, 183; AN at, 70, 71–82, 137; French prisoners at, 71, 80, 95; escape attempts from, 71–2, 73–5, 77–87, 88–9; camp theatre, 74, 77–8, 80–1; camp routine, 76–7; AN escapes from, 78–87, 88–9, 137, 154–5, 183–4; successful escapes before AN, 80
Colditz (BBC TV series), 155, 183–4
Cole, Harold, 99–101, 104, 112–13, 119
Connor, William (’Cassandra’), 147
Cooke, Alistair, 227, 232, 235, 244
Cooke, Robert (‘Robin’), 223
Cooper, Gunner, 31–2
Costello, Seamus, 239, 240, 241, 256
Crace, John Foster, 15, 21, 71
Crawley, Aidan, 59–60, 150
Creasey, Tim, 236
Creswell, Michael (’Monday’), 101–2, 110, 111, 113–14, 155
Cripps, Sir Stafford, 60
Crockatt, Norman, 91–2, 105, 109, 120, 123, 136
Daly, Miriam, 242
Dalyell, Tam, 221
Dansey, Claude (’Z’), 98–9, 100, 109, 110, 112–13, 120
Darling, Donald (’Sunday’), 99–100, 101, 102, 109, 110, 112–13, 116, 127
Day, Robin, 181
Dean, Arthur, 115
Deedes, Bill, 221
Delloye, Captain, 116
Dempsey, Sir Miles, 132
Desoubrie, Jacques, 129–30
Dickens, PC Peter, 246
Dobbs, Michael, 244
Dobie, David, 132, 135
Doenitz, Karl, 141
Donkers, H., 89
Dothie, W.H., 52
Douglas-Home, Alec, 181, 207, 212–13, 247
Douglas-Pennant, Mrs, 219
du Cann, Edward, 186, 197, 200–1, 203–5, 207, 208, 210–13, 214, 215, 216–17
Duffy, Peter, 251
Duncan, Michael, 93
Dunkirk, 31, 36, 39, 40, 46; evacuation from (Dynamo), 46, 54–5
Ebbens, Fekko, 132, 133
economy, British: depression of early 1930s, 13, 17; impact of science and technology, 148–9; and EEC entry, 174; in 1970s, 178–9, 180–1, 190, 191, 192–5, 200, 214, 244; and ‘monetarist’ theory, 206, 220, 228
Eden, Anthony, 27–8, 46–7, 50, 137, 159–60
Eisenhower, Dwight, 156
Eliot, T.S., East Coker, 265
Ellis, Walter, 240
entomology, 10–11, 17, 26
Erlach, Albert
d’, 90
Eton College, 9–10, 11–17, 20–2, 163, 164–5
European Economic Community (EEC), 161, 174, 208–9
Evans, Alfred ‘Johnny’, 77, 93
Fairley, Professor Gordon Hamilton, 131
Falaise Gap, 127
Finsberg, Geoffrey, 211
First World War, 9–10, 14
Fisher, Nigel, 200, 204–5, 211, 214, 215
Fitt, Gerry, 70, 239
Flynn, Harry, 238, 240, 241, 256–8, 260–1
Forbes, Norman, 61, 62–9, 70, 79
Frank, Hans, 66, 141
Frank, Wolfe, 140
Fraser, Antonia, 131, 197
Fraser, Hugh, 25, 131, 133, 135, 136, 154, 197, 218–19
French Army, 30–1, 32, 33, 40, 43, 46, 51–2, 95
French Resistance, 55–6, 95–6, 105
Frick, Wilhelm, 141
Friedman, Milton, 228
Funk, Walther, 141
Gaitskell, Hugh, 160
Gandhi, Mohandas, 12–13
Gardiner, George, 199
Gardiner Committee report (1975), 230*
Garrow, Ian, 97–8, 99
Gatwick airport project, 161
Gestapo, 68–70, 104, 114, 117, 120, 129–30, 140
Gibson, Patrick, 21
Giffard, John (nephew), 165–6
Giffard, Thomas, 108
Gilmour, Ian, 190, 200
Glyn, Sir Ralph, 146
Goering, Hermann, 46, 113, 141, 142–3
Goïcoechea, Florentino, 113, 115, 117
Goldney, R. M., 35, 37–9
Goldsmith, Jimmy, 165
Goodhart, Philip, 197
Gormley, Joe, 192
Gormley, John, 256
Gort, Lord, 46
Gow, Ian, 229, 232
Gowrie, Grey, 227
Great Britain 75 (band of patriots), 177
Greef, Elvire de (‘Tante Go’), 115, 117